Little Cherine Book 03 - BPost046 by arthur.grafo4

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<sup><h6>“Do you? You saw the Sparklers in the void. They look like insects made out of light. Are they human?”<br>
“I’m sorry, I should have known you were not speaking of the obvious.”</h6></sup>
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<p><center><a href="https://steemit.com/sfandf-fiction/@arthur.grafo4/little-cherine-book-03-bpost045">Previous Post 045</a></center></p>
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<p><h3><center>1851</center></h3></p>
<p>“You did not mean that as an insult to Solomon, but it very nearly did sound like one love. What about the Anadir? What about Gilli. The Sparklers are carrying the souls of we do not know how many species.” A thought crossed my mind and I paled. With a terror in me I turned to Solomon. “Solomon, the Sparklers I killed - did I wipe out a species?”</p>
<p>“No Robert, we do not bunch ourselves together in groups according to the species we hold. We did analyse what we lost and no single species will be seriously affected. Individuals from seventeen species were released.”</p>
<p>It took a while for the trembling to cease within me. The thought had so horrified me that if he had answered in the positive I knew the guilt would have caused me to fall apart. Within seconds my girls had laid their hands on me, trying to caress away my shaking while Candy took off her blouse and used it to wipe at my face.</p>
<p>“I need a cigarette.”</p>
<p>When I returned I found them talking to Lynda, each of the Earth Cherinians trying to add another detail to the picture she is building of the kind of Earth we need. She looked at me, curious.</p>
<p>“Just think of a place like this world as it was hundreds of years ago before we polluted it. It should hold tropical or semitropical land, preferably islands, where food is bountiful and with lots of fresh water. There must be no humans. Not even potentially. Lynda, even if the humans of that world are evolved cockroaches we stay away. And please stop thinking of me as being altruistic. Would you like such a species to find out about us and have them pay us a visit in the millions?"
<p>“I think New York cockroaches must be smarter than any others - they are able to survive everything we use to exterminate them. Maybe if we were visited by such cockroaches they would come armed with sprays to kill us off.” After the terror I had just gone through I overreacted to her humour, but the laughter helped dispel the vestiges of my nightmare so that I was relaxed again afterwards.</p>
<p>“I do not mind if you talk softly, please, no sudden noises - they would shock me.”</p>
<p>I nodded and placed a cone of silence around her so that she can hear us as a soft distant murmur while we can still hear her breathing. She closed her eyes and stayed like that for more than two hours. She sighed and opened her eyes.</p>
<p>“Nothing yet. I need to go to the toilet.”</p>
<p>We took a break, had something to eat and drink and she sat back again.</p>
<p>“Lynda. Don’t stay that long. An hour at a time is plenty.”</p>
<p>“Don’t worry Robert, I’ve done this at home, searching for all kinds of strange possible worlds I want to see and then sat for hours watching them.”</p>
<p>“This could end up taking very long love. The kind of world we are looking for would have separated from us many millions of years ago. It may be very difficult to find.”</p>
<p>“That’s a good tip. Thanks.” She closed her eyes again.</p>
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<p>I did not dare interrupt her and this time she stayed over three hours, but when she opened her eyes there was the shine of success in her eyes. Leaving the protector behind I closed my eyes and saw the world she was looking at and sent Cherine and myself there.</p>
<p>We spent a couple of weeks just enjoying ourselves. This would have been the perfect world for Cherinians. Unspoilt, lush and green with less than a quarter of the deserts we have. The biggest desert is in what is the United States in our world and Australia. Africa has a very small desert where our Kalahari is. There is no desert where the Sahara is.</p>
<p>I first did a general search for signs of an evolved species and then began over again, using different criteria. When I had exhausted all the possibilities I then began over again, searching amongst the minute citizens of the world. I looked for ant colonies and checked that they have not evolved beyond ours and carried on from there. I could not find anything that indicated nature had thought it necessary to create any intelligence beyond that of the animal kingdom.</p>
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<p><h3><center>1852</center></h3></p>
<p>If I had thought about it, I think I would have expected a larger number of animals, picturing perhaps some ideal world teeming with all species filling the plains and other terrain. There were a lot of animals, but not anything close to the numbers I would have expected. I did enjoy seeing a number of species that are extinct on our world. This might be a way to re-stock our world, I thought. That made me realise I do not need a tissue bank of all animal, insect and plant life. We have billions of worlds to restock from.</p>
<p>I chose a string of semi-tropical islands which have everything they could need and are devoid of dangerous carnivores and poisonous snakes. Small things like scorpions they will have to learn to stay aware of.</p>
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<p>We returned without bothering to first rid myself of my facial growth, still wet from standing under a cool waterfall.</p>
<p>“You did it girl! That place is fantastic, what a pity to waste it on them.”</p>
<p>While I went for a proper wash and shave, Cherine let them all share what we had seen.</p>
<p>Claudia was excited. “Robbie, could we bring back a few dodos. We could put them in their natural habitat and people would only think they had never become extinct.”</p>
<p>“You want to deprive the English language of the saying, ‘dead as a dodo’?”</p>
<p>“Oh you and your mania with language!”</p>
<p>“Yes Claudia, I do have a love for language. You need words to be able to think. The less words you know the less you are able to think of and therefore the less human you are.”</p>
<p>Theresa asked, “And because the English language has the most words, I suppose you think the English are the most human?”</p>
<p>I laughed. “I’d love to make such a claim, but with me here as an example, it is too patently false a theory. But language is really important Theresa - which is why I keep on insisting each of you who speak another language do not allow yourselves to forget them.”</p>
<p>“Nonsense!” Meli erupted. “Are you trying to say our dolphin people are not human because they think in pictures?”</p>
<p>Solomon added. “There are species we collected that had what you think of as civilisations and they did not use words.”</p>
<p>“Perhaps, but they use something instead of words, such as the pictures of the dolphin people. They are in effect different types of words.”</p>
<p>Themi laughed. “When Roberto gets a bee in his bonnet you can argue until you are blue in the face. Should we not be sending those three to the new world?”</p>
<p>“Not yet Themi. I want to get the others first. I may need to use these three to help find the others.”</p>
<p>Sam suggested, “Why go looking for the other man? Look in their minds and see when and where they met him last time.”</p>
<p>“Good idea love. I think we are going to end up with a lot of them. All I have to do is then look in his mind to see who it is he supplies kids to. We are going to smash quite a large link in this monstrous chain of misery.”</p>
<p>“I better arrange bigger facilities then.” Alki said thoughtfully.</p>
<p>“I don’t think it will be necessary Alki. As we go up the chain we can send the lower links to the penal world. Lynda, I can’t thank you enough. I’m in your debt.”</p>
<p>“No...”</p>
<p>“Lynda, we all are.” Dommi interrupted her forcibly. “Roberto was going to go on a killing spree, as he entered each mind he would have seen the pain of children and killed. Do you know what that would have done to all of us? Every Cherinian owes you.”</p>
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<p><h3><center>1853</center></h3></p>
<p>I could already feel the difference in myself. I was floating on air, relieved of ever having this kind of guilt again. I changed my mind.</p>
<p>“We are going to take these three to their world and then I’m having our honeymoons. The rest can wait. They will not harm one more child since we will go back into the past to get them.”</p>
<p>I asked Dommi and all the other adult Cherinians to change their age so that they all look like children. I made myself a boy of about twelve, rather tall for my age though, as I do not have smaller clothes. They were all curious, but I refused to explain.</p>
<p>“When we arrive there you must not smile or giggle. I want all of you looking stern.”</p>
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<p>Without appearing visibly, I paralysed their legs and using my powers I moved them so that they sat in a row by the wall. Then we all jumped there.</p>
<p>“The World Children’s Court has looked in your minds and found you three guilty of intending to cause terrible suffering to children for monetary gain. You have been sentenced with immediate effect. Period of your sentence; life. You will never be in a position to harm a child again. You were sentenced originally to be executed, but members of this court have appealed on your behalf for mercy. You will be transported to another world where there are no other people. There will be food, water and the climate is warm. There are no other amenities of civilisation, apart from any you yourselves create.</p>
<p>You will be joined by other abusers of children as we find them. Should any of them be female they will be sterilised so that no children are born to you. Having a child is a gift and you have shown that you are incapable of carrying out the sacred duty of caring for them. We are the last children you will ever see; you will never hear the laughter of a child again. Never see eyes of a child look at you with love or fear.</p>
<p>If women are found guilty and sent to you, we will monitor you. Any rape or abuse of them will not be tolerated. If you attempt any crime against them you will be dealt with severely.</p>
<p>As you see I am carrying three steel knives. These will be given to you as tools for using to prepare your food or otherwise as you decide to use them. If you lose or break them they will not be replaced.”</p>
<p>While talking I had also been searching through their memories, noting when and where and how they had come into contact with the person who employed them. I now turned to my Cherinians.</p>
<p>“Your decision will be carried out now, you may leave.”</p>
<p>Not bothering to touch the three I gathered them within my powers and Cherine and I jumped. Once on their island I returned the use of their legs to them.</p>
<p>“You better hope that none of you need medical attention. We will not help any of you.”</p>
<p>We jumped straight back home.</p>
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<p>“Jade, Cassie - both of you again?”</p>
<p>“Yes please. Daddy, can you take Gilli first, at least we had a couple of days already.”</p>
<p>“Thank you Jade. Thank you for the thought and thank you for calling me daddy.” I kissed both my little girls and taking the hand of my Gilli I jumped. </p>
<p>“My little princess, I’m going to cheat with you. Two weeks is not long enough, we are going to have a whole month alone.”</p>
<p>“Robbie!” She began to cry. “I want it so much, but it won’t be fair.”</p>
<p>“Fair? Did someone tell you I am always fair?” I cupped her chin in the palm of my hand. “I can’t be fair all the time love. Sometimes I also need to just be human and do what I want. There are times when everything seems to become too much, too much pain in others, too much in me. Too many problems with too many eyes looking to me for the solution. Baby, it is not just for you, I need this.”</p>
<p>“You need it?” I nodded. “They won’t blame me?”</p>
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<p><h3><center>1854</center></h3></p>
<p>“There is never any blame love. They won’t even blame me, they’ll only be happy for us. I had planned on this from the start, that is why I left you for last.”</p>
<p>I had already decided, a week outside Dar, then London, the Seychelles and then Venice (via the apartment of Sylvestro) to finish it off. I knew she did not enjoy cities that much, but I wanted her to experience the two lovely cities.</p>
<p>Knowing we have all the time we want took off the pressure and we spent our days walking the beach, eating at hotels and at the village. She enjoyed the last. In the meantime I tried to contact Eddie and was pleased to see him drive in on our fourth day there. I had stocked up on beer for him and we sat under a tree as I explained.</p>
<p>“Gilli has never seen anything like that plain you showed me in another world. I would appreciate you inviting us to your camp for two days.”</p>
<p>“It would be a pleasure Robert. You have returned to your past, for I sense you at your home also.”</p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p>“Let me finish this bottle and we better leave so that we get there before it is dark.”</p>
<p>I knew what the effect of most of the day in the sun, with the wind and dust would do to my sensitive Gilli. The sun on her world is not as harsh as ours and her skin would suffer. I made certain her healer knows what to do and surrounded her with a shield that filtered the sun’s rays, somewhat like a very good pair of sunglasses does.</p>
<p>The first part of the trip she stood up in the back of the Landrover, holding on to the bar over which the canvas cover could be stretched. Even when she got tired and sat down, she was soon back on her feet as the view changed.</p>
<p>Once we were away from civilisation, with only dusty thorn trees on either side, I checked that there are no other humans for a big distance and turned to her.</p>
<p>“Let go of the bar love.” As she was being bounced around she looked back at me doubtfully, but let go. I swept her away so that she floated nearly one hundred metres above us and strung her along so that she follows us like a kite. Eddie grinned as her scream faded away.</p>
<p>“You are a sadistic bastard.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I felt her terror - I also felt her exhilaration. Eddie, my girls are totally crazy to trust me so implicitly.”</p>
<p>“I suppose the knowledge that you would kill yourself before letting any harm come to them helps.”</p>
<p>“Accidents can happen, I can’t foresee everything. Doesn’t it look like we are being followed by a fairy?”</p>
<p>He glanced up at her and then adjusted his side mirror so that he could watch her. “I’m going to have to give up my lifestyle. Hettie does not enjoy it here and I find it a nuisance having to change my appearance back to what my servants expect. I’m going to miss this.”</p>
<p>“Why give it up? Tell them you are leaving, but that your son wants to employ them. Keep the camp for the odd days or nights. Maybe Hettie will not mind so much if she knows it is only for a weekend now and then. You can certainly afford it.”</p>
<p>“How much are we worth Robert, Hettie and I?”</p>
<p>“I have no idea, not a subject I’m curious about.”</p>
<p>“We just got the last annual accounts. I was quite shocked. Robert, we are worth over thirteen billion dollars in cash, plus more in assets.”</p>
<p>I could not whistle with the wind blowing in my face, but he chuckled anyway at my expression.</p>
<p>“She has been very careful. Nobody, not even her accountants know what I just told you. They each only see a part of her wealth.”</p>
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<p><h3><center>1855</center></h3></p>
<p>“Very wise of her.”</p>
<p>He pulled over to the side of the road and turned to me. “Just thought I would let you know what is available for you. Keep in mind that it is not all in free cash, most of it is invested in shares and so on - money must always generate more or else it loses value. If you should need one or two hundred million we can arrange it, for larger amounts we would need time to liquidate some of our investments.”</p>
<p>“Forget it Eddie.”</p>
<p>“Why the hell do you think I stopped the car? I knew you would say that. Think of this Robert. Even if we only, which we don’t, even if we only earned a return of five to six percent per annum that still comes to about seven hundred million per annum. What would Hettie and I do with that kind of money?”</p>
<p>“Between the two of you, you now have eight Mansfield children.” I grinned. “They will end up costing you an arm and a leg.”</p>
<p>“How much? A million each per year - if I were to be ridiculous? Robert, we will both be very upset if you do not tell us should you need anything - for your family or the Cherinians in general.” I capitulated. Not for my family; but for the Cherinians, I do not have the right to refuse.</p>
<p>Poor Gilli had carried on travelling and was far ahead of us. I smiled at Eddie. “I’m going to leave you alone so that you have time to think over your terrible mistake of offering us so much money. I’ll meet up with you further on.”</p>
<p>When I took hold of Gilli’s hand she started and then her face beamed with joy. She was so incredibly beautiful it hurt. I whispered a warning in her mind and changed both of us. Using childhood pictures of fairies and elves our clothing changed and we grew wings that glistened in the sunlight like a dragonfly’s. We turned and hovered over the road, a radiance surrounding us. As Eddie came around the curve and he saw us he stopped the car and stared and I knew he was seeing pictures of his childhood.</p>
<p>“We are breaking his heart Robbie.”</p>
<p>“It is a good breaking, love.” I let go and moved away from her. “Dance for us my love. Dance our heartbreak for us, bring back our memories of sweet innocent childhood.”</p>
<p>I do not have any talent with music or dancing, but as a painter I followed her, making the rays of the sun seem to bend and follow, bringing together a mist to create a rainbow as her backdrop. </p>
<p>As Gilli ended her dance she bowed and I made us vanish in a golden flash. We appeared, in our normal form sitting in the back of his Landrover. I chuckled.</p>
<p>“You look like you been dreaming old man. You going to drive or are we going to stay here all day?”</p>
<p>He did not turn around to look at us. He just sat for another minute, started the car and drove. He did not speak to us again for the rest of the trip. Later, sitting by the fire he lit his pipe and staring into the flames spoke softly.</p>
<p>“Robert was right, you are Queen Gillianth of Meli’s world. Luigi was also right, you bring beauty and magic into our world.”</p>
<p>Apart from seeing to our tents he spent the rest of the evening staring into the flames as if he could still see my Gilli in them. I toyed with the idea of turning her into a miniature fire-fairy and having her dance in his flames, but decided it would be too much. I took her hand and walked away from the camp so that she can see the sea of rippling dried grasses and silhouettes of umbrella thorn trees in the silvery moonlight. Gilli sighed and leant against me.</p>
<p>“There already is a lot of magic in this world Robbie. Maybe your people forget to look.”</p>
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<p>I was pleased to see that Eddie had brought in Hettie during the night. From the way she looked at us I knew he had shared with her the dance of yesterday. She kissed us welcome and got busy seeing to breakfast.</p>
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<p><h3><center>1856</center></h3></p>
<p>Even coffee tastes different when boiled over a campfire. Bread put on long forks and charred does not taste like toast, it seems to absorb the wild flavour of the logs. Gilli is by nature a vegetarian and I would not even allow her to taste meat. She smiled when she smelt the bacon and baked beans and when she wished to try it, she did not complain when I checked the toast covered in beans that it does not have any pieces of bacon.</p>
<p>I had planned to spend the day with Gilli walking on our own. Eddie asked, “Would the two of you like to be alone?” and I knew they wanted to be with us. </p>
<p>“I do not know the secret beauties of this land like you do. If you and Hettie would not mind walking with us we would be grateful.”</p>
<p>As I’d expected, it did not take long for Eddie and Gilli to get into conversation. It was fascinating listening to him. He has a keen eye for detail; has obviously learnt a lot from the locals and from books he has read, but mostly they were his own observations that often were accompanied with anecdotes that captured our imaginations. Though he usually shows a gentle but dry wit, he was considerate and tailored his sense of humour to fit his audience - which as far as he was concerned was only Gilli. Hettie and I smiled at each other as he made Gilli laugh; the sound of her laughter was like music on the air and even some buck further away lifted their heads to listen.</p>
<p>“Are you happy Hettie?”</p>
<p>“Compared to what Robert - before?”</p>
<p>“No. Compared to how happy you would like to be.”</p>
<p>“No one is. Am I happier than I have ever been? Yes, I am.”</p>
<p>“Are the children any part of that happiness?”</p>
<p>“Ah! I am talking to Robert. Would I dare say no to him?”</p>
<p>I laughed. “I’m glad to see you still have your spirit. One of the things I love about you.”</p>
<p>“You are sweet, but sometimes you are foolish.”</p>
<p>“I don’t like the sweet part.”</p>
<p>That made her laugh. “The Robert is afraid of being sweet?”</p>
<p>“Actually, Robert is more afraid of being The Robert.” I replied seriously.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry. I was just being facetious. Robert, you have died so many times; had arms, legs and ribs smashed. Not because you were attacked viciously,” she reddened, “apart from in Italy. You have mostly suffered so as to open hearts that suffered. If such a man does not deserve to be called The Robert, who does?”</p>
<p>I kept my eyes on the zebra, sensing they were nervous. “The children Hettie?” Before she could reply I softly called to Eddie. “Something happening with the zebra?”</p>
<p>He stood still with his hands over his eyes. He pointed to Gilli and explained. I could not see anything until I suddenly saw something reflecting the sunlight. I closed my eyes and expanded my senses. It was a black man holding a rifle. At that moment he noticed us and melted away into the bush. I told Eddie what I had seen.</p>
<p>“I’m surprised he had a rifle. When the locals hunt for meat they usually stick to their spears.”</p>
<p>“You think he is a poacher?”</p>
<p>He sighed, exasperated. “More than likely.”</p>
<p>This needed explaining and Gilli got upset. Eddie was about to explain when I called out to her.</p>
<p>“Gilli, do not judge. You do not have the right to, this is not the gentle world of Meli. Come into my mind.”</p>
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<p><h3><center>1857</center></h3></p>
<p>She did as I asked and I showed her how our populations have grown, the catastrophe this has turned out to be for third world countries. I let her see pictures of starving children, their eyes covered with flies. Gently I explained that though the world is trying to stop the killing of animals, it is difficult to explain to those who still live in the old tribal culture that there are too many of them now, the wild can no longer afford their hunting traditions. However, it is not enough to tell them to stop killing animals for their meat - we have to first provide alternative ways for them to feed their families.</p>
<p>“Gilli love. You saw we are upset. The man we saw, we think he was doing this not for the meat. He knows that if he kills a zebra, skins it (she flinched) and sells the skin, he can get enough money to feed his family for weeks. That is an indirect way of feeding his family on the animal he kills. That Eddie and I understand. What angers us is that the meat is wasted; it is not used to feed the many hungry people who live close by.”</p>
<p>“Actually Robert, the meat is wasted in human terms. A large number of scavengers would be grateful for the meal.”</p>
<p>Poor Gilli was trying hard to understand and we were only confusing her. I left it to Eddie to take her mind off it, I felt to try and explain further would only add to the confusion or perhaps I was being a coward; it would force me to face things that I cannot change and that will hurt me.</p>
<p>Hettie interrupted my thoughts. “You are thinking of a Cherinian world where there would not be this killing?”</p>
<p>“I’m not. Hettie, I am not a vegetarian, nor do I subscribe to the belief that we should not eat meat - even theoretically. We evolved as omnivores and that means our bodies need it. I would like to quote something Greg Clark said, <i>‘We are all descendants of successful hunters’</i>. I refuse to turn my back on all those generations who suffered and struggled so as to make it possible for me to exist. Hettie, we can survive without meat, but if we do we are denying our place in nature. Unfortunately our population has gown to the point where even super farming cannot provide us all with meat - especially as so many want to eat meat every day. </p>
<p>It is healthier to eat fish at least once a week and maybe two days a week we could restrict our diet to grains, vegetables and fruit? It would help make it easier for our farmers to supply us with enough meat to keep everyone happy. Perhaps Cherinians will find a way of solving this problem. Personally I think they will make a mess of it - just as normal humans have. We also find it difficult to resist our need for children. Our longer lives means our problems will be compounded.”</p>
<p>“So, our Robert is not an optimist?”</p>
<p>“You did not know? I most definitely am a pessimist.”</p>
<p>“You can only bring about changes, plan for them, if you are an optimist. At least that way you try. A pessimist does not even try, for it all seems hopeless.”</p>
<p>I grinned at her. “Are you trying to convert me? Turn me into a Cherinian?”</p>
<p>For some reason that seemed to shock her. That made me think; had I inadvertedly spoken a truth, was I a true Cherinian? Thoughts ran around inside me like stupid chickens and I forgot to see the beauty around me. Gilli must have sensed it for she left Eddie and returned to me. Putting her slim little hand in mine she looked up at me.</p>
<p>“Did you know that there used to be lions here?”</p>
<p>“Would you like to see some lions?” She nodded, interested. “We’ll go for a holiday to a game park.”</p>
<p>“A game park? We will play games with lions?”</p>
<p>Eddie and Hettie looked away to hide their smiles. I knelt down and pulled her into my arms. “Bless you my love. You’ve managed to make my heart lighter.” With a smile I explained what ‘game park’ means and she laughed at her own misunderstanding.</p>
<p>“Robert, I told the servants to bring us lunch on the hill, under those trees.” He pointed and I recognised the spot. I looked at him and grinned.</p>
<p>“You’re not planning to leave me there asleep again are you?”</p>
<p>Smiling he replied, “Actually, I think that Eddie handled it quite well.”</p>
<br>
<p><h3><center>1858</center></h3></p>
<p>“I just wish he had also told the ants to stay away.”</p>
<p>Laughing he answered, “Ants will not listen to anyone.”</p>
<p>Continuing with the joke I replied, “We’ll have to initiate a program to breed them for obedience.”</p>
<p>“That could turn out very useful.”</p>
<p>“Oh - oh Gilli, we better go for our lunch before the crazy old coot starts taking me seriously.”</p>
<p>Lunch, as would be expected, turned out to be mostly cold meats. I jumped back to Athens, went to our local greengrocer and bought a sweet watermelon and jumped back.</p>
<p>“Try this love.”</p>
<p>“I’ve had it. I like it.”</p>
<p>Taking their pieces Eddie and Hettie moved to another tree to give us some privacy. I lay back and she rested her upper body on my chest, her face over mine.</p>
<p>“Robbie, this is a lovely place.”</p>
<p>“I think so too.”</p>
<p>“Could we come back here tonight? I’d love our first time to be here, not inside a room.”</p>
<p>“That is a lovely idea - then I can see the moon reflected in your eyes as we make love.”</p>
<p>“As long as I can see love in yours Robbie.”</p>
<p>Anxiously I asked, “Will you do me a big favour Gilli?”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“Will you please age yourself by at least two years for tonight?”</p>
<p>“Why?”</p>
<p>“You are the same age as Cherine was the first time, but you are much smaller. Not just your size. My healer shows me that your vagina is smaller and tighter. I would hurt you badly. Please?”</p>
<p>“Oh sure, if that is what you want. I would not have minded hurting if it made you feel nice.”</p>
<p>“Oh Gilli! How could hurting you make me feel nice?”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry Robbie. I thought you like it when it is very tight.”</p>
<p>“Not if it hurts. God, whatever pain you feel, I would feel it a hundred times worse.”</p>
<p>“Robbie?” Now she was nervous.</p>
<p>“What is it love?”</p>
<p>“This thing I heard about, the hymen? Girls from my world don’t have one. Do you mind?”</p>
<p>I laughed. “No my love I don’t.”</p>
<p>“I wish I had one.”</p>
<p>“Don’t. Now I understand why your people have a more healthy attitude to sex. I’d never realised, but I see now that having a hymen has caused a lot of the prejudices we Earth people have. How many of our cultures have placed such an importance on it, how many millions of poor girls have had their lives destroyed because of it. How barbaric it has made us!”</p>
<p>The heat got to us and we snoozed. Even with the heat and sweat I enjoyed feeling her weight on me.</p>
<br>
<p><h3><center>1859</center></h3></p>
<p>That evening I explained to Hettie and Eddie that we wanted to spend the night on the hill. “If it was anyone else I’d not allow this. Keep yourself aware Robert, animals are not all you have to fear.”</p>
<p>“I will Eddie. May I take a blanket with?”</p>
<p>“No. Take two. After midnight you will need one over you also.”</p>
<p>He kindly saw to it that I had coffee in a thermos flask and put his last milk in a bottle for Gilli. I think they guessed what was to happen and he was almost fatherly in his concern. There was almost a feeling that what I was about to do was sacrilege. That hymen business again, I guess.</p>
<p>As we walked away I heard Hettie murmur to him, “Don’t worry, the girls tell me he is very gentle.”</p>
<p>The grass seemed to have turned silver and there was a gentle breeze blowing, making it ripple and look like an ocean. We sat under a tree, Gilli huddled against me as we looked at the plain below us. The strange sounds we heard now and them made it even more exotic. As it got late and the moon rose higher it quietened down. I recalled an evening spent at Albert Hall and bringing the memory back, brought Gilli in to share it and we listened to the symphonic music under the stars.</p>
<p>When the music ended she stood up and took off her clothes. Soon as she was down to panties she began to grow, turning into a slender willow of twelve, but with no budding breasts to soften her outline under the moonlight.</p>
<p>“You better sit down before the breeze blows you away. Gillianth, how is it that a girl with such an ethereal beauty loves me?”</p>
<p>“How could this girl not love you Robbie?”</p>
<p>She was kneeling by my side and her eyes were level with mine. Even the moon must have loved being reflected in them. Her long slim fingers reached for me and slowly unbuttoned my shirt. The feel of her fingers as they touched me now and then was delicious. I let her take my shirt off and then she reached for my belt. The back of her fingers brushed against my stomach and I shivered as it felt like she had jolted me with electricity. I lay back so as to make it easier for her to remove my pants.</p>
<p>She paused and sat back on her haunches. “Robbie, you wonder why I love you. To me the question is why do you love me. I am but a girl from a tree village, I do not have the education your wives do and I am not as beautiful as they are. Do you only love me because I love you?”</p>
<p>I grinned. “It helped.”</p>
<p>She slapped my tummy a gentle but stinging blow. “Be serious please.”</p>
<p>“I thought I was!” I sat up. “What draws our attention to another person so that we notice them? It helps if the other is good looking, but that will often only stir the genitals, creating a wish in us to possess them. What makes us notice the other one as a person? Your dance was as beautiful as you were, but my thoughts were not tuned to noticing you as a person, worth loving or not.</p>
<p>When Daniel spoke about your love for me and asked that I marry you, I was in a panic. I already have too many wives and you were far too young. How could I get out of this without hurting the feelings of your people and especially yours? Gilli, you were still not real to me.</p>
<p>I came into your mind expecting to find a child who had built up a fantasy of marrying a prince, partly out of vanity and partly out of wishful thinking. I would then have had to find a way to reject you without killing your dreams or humiliating you. That was what I was trying to figure out when I came into your mind.</p>
<p>I did not find what I expected. Gillianth, you became real. I saw a heart that did not belong to a child; it was timeless, for it was a heart that loved with a depth I’d never imagined a normal human child could feel. I saw your love for dancing and I saw your love for me. It was as if I were looking into a crystal clear pool and within it there was the golden glow of a sun. You almost sucked me into that pool, so strong was the effect. Oh my Gilli, if only that pool had been shadowed by even one selfish wish or pride, I would have escaped.”</p>
<p>I stayed silent and she waited, sensing I was not finished.</p>
<br>
<p><h3><center>1860</center></h3></p>
<p>“Only one other child has loved me like that. Cherine. All the others grew to love me, even if it was from within the womb. I’ll tell you something; it will be easier for one of them to stop loving me than it will ever be for you.”</p>
<p>“So you did love me because I loved you.” she whispered.</p>
<p>“In a way. Just like a unicorn can only be enslaved by purity so it is with me.”</p>
<p>“The purity is of the heart, not sexual.”</p>
<p>“You’ve met my loves and yet you ask?”</p>
<p>“I did not ask, my prince of love.”</p>
<p>“Gilli, when Meli made your world she was a baby, or maybe she made it earlier when she was still but a soul. In her childish enthusiasm she named me prince, she also did something else that embarrassed me. You have been with me on my world and you see that I am just an ordinary man with a few gifts. So don’t call me prince.”</p>
<p>“If ordinary men were like you, then this world would be like Meli’s world. Robbie, in our clan there are no princes or kings. Daniel is not our leader. He is the one who speaks for us with you and Meli. On other matters other men or women speak for us. Would you have Daniel speak on our behalf about child birth?</p>
<p>Do you not see that the more you protest that you are not a prince, the more they feel in their hearts that you truly deserve to be called prince? Anyway, I called you my prince of love. You are also king of my heart.”</p>
<p>“Well spoken my love, but you have damned me if I protest and if I do not, then I become an unworthy prince. I truly see that the world of Meli runs on feminine logic.”</p>
<p>“My Robbie, it is not just feminine logic. Her world runs on the logic of love.”</p>
<p>“You know something? I don’t really care on what it runs - any world that can produce anyone like you is a world of miracles.”</p>
<p>“There is a man in our village, he is young and not married yet. He is known for the way his heart shifts from one to another daily. He speaks like you did. I am so lucky that I can see in your heart and know that what you say really comes from there.”</p>
<p>“Gilli?” </p>
<p>“Yes?”</p>
<p>“You talk too much. I know a far sweeter way to use those lovely lips.”</p>
<p>“You wish to kiss them?”</p>
<p>I pretended to roar with frustration and pulled her face to mine. It wasn’t much of a kiss - she was too busy giggling. Slowly though it began to take on substance, reaching for deeper meanings. It found them.</p>
<p>The lips started off by sending messages to our hearts so that they began to race. Then they ordered our hands to search for their own meanings in the sweetness of touch. And so it went, till there was not one part of our bodies not trying to or yearning for the closeness that made our hearts race even faster till our blood was boiling.</p>
<p>I had been excited by the difference in colour of her nipples and within her sweet deep slit. The moon though is greedy for colour, for she has almost none of her own, and she stole the pink-orange tint, forcing me to fall back on my own imagination, which is always so much more powerful than truth.</p>
<p>I would not have thought the laughter of a hyena would lend to our passion, but it brought back to our consciousness the memory that we were out in the wild and that made our nudity and coupling also wild and a part of nature. It almost no longer mattered that this was Robert and Gilli. We were two bodies, male and female and we were driven also by instincts that reached back to the beginning of time. As I sucked her nipples it was because not only were they beautiful, but also were part of her femininity, part of the mother to be in her that will feed our child someday.</p><br>
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<p><center><a href="https://steemit.com/sfandf-fiction/@arthur.grafo4/little-cherine-book-03-bpost047"> Next [Book 03] - Post 047</a></center></p>
<p><h5><i><b>I hope you enjoy reading this story of fantasy, adventure and love - and should some of it be true for our reality, I hope you will love our Cherine.</b></i></h5></p><br>
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<h6>Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου<br></h6>(Alexander Zenon Eustace)<br>
<sup>1st September, 2019</sup>
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* posted on Steemit: 1st September, 2019<br>
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<center>For those who wish to be notified of sequels<br>
@nikosnitza
<h6>If you wish to have your name added above, I would be honoured.</h6></center>
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